Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials detection using a single electrode consumer-grade EEG device for BCI applications

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) implement a direct communication pathway between the brain of an user and an external device, as a computer or a machine in general. One of the most used brain responses to implement non-invasive BCIs is the so called steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP). This periodic response is generated when an user gazes to a light flickering at a constant frequency. The SSVEP response can be detected in the user's electroencephalogram (EEG) at the corresponding frequency of the attended flickering stimulus. In SSVEP based BCIs, multiple stimuli, flickering at different frequencies, are commonly presented to the user, where to each stimulus is associated a command for an actuator. One of the limitations to a wider adoption of BCIs is given by the need of EEG acquisition devices and software tools which are commonly not meant for end-user usage. In this work, exploiting state-of-the-art software tools, the use of a low cost easy to wear single electrode EEG device is demonstrated to be exploitable to implement simple SSVEP based BCIs. The obtained results, although less impressive than the ones obtainable with professional EEG equipment, are interesting in view of practical low cost BCI applications meant for end-users.